"The first victory we can claim is that our hearts are free of hatred. Hence we say to those who persecute us and who try to dominate us: ‘You are my brother. I do not hate you, but you are not going to dominate me by fear. I do not wish to impose my truth, nor do I wish you to impose yours on me. We are going to seek the truth together’. THIS IS THE LIBERATION WHICH WE ARE PROCLAIMING."
Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas (2002)

Luncheon on the Struggle for Democracy in Cuba

March 19, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation organized a luncheon in
Stockholm with the Cuban democracy activist John Suarez, on the
developments in the country.

John Suarez is the International Secretary of the Cuban Democratic Directorate, an NGO working for human rights in the country. Issues such
as the fate of Oswaldo Payá and the Cuban regime’s brutal violence
against dissidents, were discussed at the seminar.

Cuba is a planned, centralized economy, a communist one-party state
where no other parties are permitted. After Fidel Castro’s illness in
2006 hope of reform was spread, but the small changes that have occurred
since then are merely symbolic actions without any real value.

The seminar was moderated by the Swedish MP Christian Holm, who also
presented the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation’s new webpage Cuba Libre.